The Reviewers' Interview Series from The Quake Workshop

The tenth installment in our Reviewers' Series of interviews is from Lt. Dan of Lt. Dan's SPQ2.

How long has your site been active?

Well my Quake 1 site was born February 7 1997, I believe it was the third (maybe fourth I think me Paul started his site around the same time) SPQ site behind Matt and crash and I must commend both of them for helping me get started in any way they could... I didn't want my site to be a replica of their's so I spent three days in a hospital bed thinking of a different format when it came to me... I'll let my readers do all the talking around here... It made my job pretty easy just maintain a site for them...

My Quake2 site was born one year and one day later on the big planet and is doing very well receiving between 400-700 hits a day...

What decided you to try to play and rate all those levels anyway?

I played Quake and fell in love and wanted to make a my contribution to the Quake community, so I tried my hand at editing and realized that wouldn't be my best effort... The next thing you know I stumbled upon Matt Sefton's Single Player Quake and the rest is history...

Ever dig in and try your hand at editing yourself?

Yes as a matter of fact I've made 3 doom2 levels one of which was rated as a must download by the aol review people one Hexen level and one pathetic Quake level... I'm also working on a Quake2 map right now and will release it no matter how bad it is when it's finished...

How do you think that affects your review approach?

Since my site isn't a review site per say it's a rating site and my readers do the rating so it doesn't affect anything really... I just play maps like my readers once through and rate them accordingly...

You just finished your 10,000 level. What do you play/do other than Q2 to keep from burning out on it?

Actually nothing... Yea you think I'm shittin but no I have many games and have never finished anything but an id game... I loved Doom and Doom2 and have played thousands of user levels... Seeing the imagination of so many people is a treat believe me... How else can you pay 40 bucks and get a years entertainment...

Believe it or not after a year and a half I'm just now getting a bit burnt on it but will not let my page suffer in any way... I have played just a few other games in that span, Hexen2 and Duke Nukem but never finished either...

Got any other details you want to share about who you are and what makes you tick?

I'm just an ole man that's a kid a heart and I love computers and id games and have devoted most of my last four years free time to it...

How do you collect your levels for review? Search cdrom.com, submissions,...?

Some are from submissions but I get most of them from cdrom and author's sites... I also surf all the review sites and find an occasional map I've missed...

About how many levels do you think you play per week?

Plain and simple as many as come out that week... I believe I spend as much time hunting for them as I do playing them...

Scored ratings or basic descriptions after clearing a specific quality hurdle: there are lots of methods. Wanna "pro and con" your chosen approach?

I have it set up in what I think are the five basic categories that make a good gaming experience... You rate each map from 1-100 in each and the total is the final rating... i have included each category on the rating page so authors know which the gamers think they need work in...

Against my better judgement I include my rating because I had so many request to do so with my Quake 1 page and it sure has generated a lot of fan mail ;] (or should I say hate mail)

Quake2, you opened the box, popped in the cd and fired it up. What was the first thing that really got you excited and kicked in the "wow" factor?

This is an easy one it was definitely the opening cinematic it totally blew me away... I bet I watched it five times before I even started playing the game... I even had to call a buddy over to watch it the day I got it...

And now, what keeps you coming back for more and more and more...?

Just shear passion for the game and to see what these authors might come up with next...

You got Quake and now Quake 2. What really separates the two from each other from the single play standpoint for you? Do you still fire up Q1 from time to time?

In my opinion id when making Quake was thinking Deathmatch and they made a very cool game for Deathmatch but took a lot of heat for the single player aspect... In Quake2 they have redeemed themselves 10 fold... It's an excellent single player experience...

Got a fav level, or hub set from the standard Q2? And what about it sets it apart from the other levels?

This one is impossible, I liked them all...

Without naming any map specifically, what is the biggest problem you see in levels?

The authors have improved so much since Quake there aren't really any major problems... You almost have to start nit pickin... I guess misaligned textures is one and bad monster mix or placement is another...

Why is a theme so important to a map?

I don't really think it's a requirement but if a author picks a theme and follows it, it definitely adds to the atmosphere of the map...

Is it ethical/cool to redo maps from previous games (Quake1, Doom2, Duke, etc)?

For DM this may be ok but for single player when I fire up a map I'm lookin for a new experience...

Has the Q2 editing community matured more rapidly than for Q1? Any theories as to why or why not?

Definitely, I'm in awe how much... I told many friends it would be quite a while before anyone was up to snuff as far as the architecture improvement id made over Quake... Wow was I wrong and still can't believe it...

Which monster is your favorite, and which seems to be the toughest to deal with?

The Tank is probably my favorite, I like the way they pound the ground if they do get a chance to kill you... The toughest has to be the Parasite, you just can't get away without much damage...

Give us 2 monsters and what you think are their strengths: the best placements to get the most challenge out of fighting them.

Gunner is best placed anywhere above the player and the Parasite is best place in an ambush from behind type trap in a tight area...

Give us 2 monsters and what you think are their weakness and the placements that hamper the monster's performance.

Bezerker weakness is when placed out in an open area anywhere above or below the player and a Flyer when placed in a tight area...

Any patterns you have seen with monsters so far?

None... Well maybe the bezerker he's pretty predictable other than that not much...

What do you think of the bosses for Q2?

They are cool looking and the sounds are also cool but I think there is a missing balance there... If you give the player something to dodge behind they aren't much of a challenge but if you make the fight out in the open the player has no chance...

I have heard it said that the radiosity lighting in Q2 has really cramped the lighting, in that stark shadow contrasts aren't as common in comparison to Q1. What is your take on this? Is lighting markedly different between the two games (ignoring color for a moment)?

I believe this is very true and one of the few things I like better about Quake (assuming we are ignoring colored lighting for a moment)...

Colored lighting. What a great toy... uh, tool,... for us editors. What can you say about it? Have the level editors out there used it cleanly?
Is it abused or overused?

The atmosphere or feeling missing in the above question is definitely replaced or ignored by use of colored lighting...

Yes the level authors have used it well and I think it hard to abuse but I have seen it done...

What is the strangest use of colored lighting (odd color for instance) you have seen - whether it worked or not?

I think Roger Staines use of colored lighting (in Versicolored Vermination) is the best I've seen thus far...

Is it worse to have an area that is too dark or too light?

I really think this depends on the atmosphere of the map but dark would probably be worse...

The texture set for Q2 is pretty extensive, and well supported by theme sets, but are you seeing fewer original textures due to the change in the format of the texture files?

Do you like to see people experiment, stretch the existing textures into combinations that weren't tried in the id levels? Or are the strengths of the matched textures that much more superior?

Yes and I believe it to be due to the quantity and quality of the new textures... There's just so much you can do with them authors aren't needing to replace them to create a new or better looking map...

Hey what ever works... I say go for it...

Hell, what is your favorite texture/level feel (base, warehouse, city,...)?

I'm not much for base levels and haven't been since the early Quake days... I like just about anything else though... I guess I got burnt out early on the base look and they all started looking the same...

What visual clues do you consider for whether textures go well together as a player?

All they have to do is look realistic... The more realistic the better the feel that your actually there...

Visually, should the textures drive the architecture or vice versa?

The textures definitely drive the architecture in my opinion, how many authors do you know that build the map and go put the textures in later...

Are you still surprised by the new ideas that people use the new tools (translucents, light emitting brushes, etc) for?

All the time, that's what keeps me interested...

Traps, many love the challenge they present.
What is your perspective on "architecturous carnivorous?"

Definitely not one of my favorites and even more so if there not marked in any way... This is one reason I could loose interest in a map... A very good example is (and I hate to put down any author) Age of Panic, I thought this was a great episode for four maps but I ran into one to many traps lost interest and have yet to finish it...

This is related to an earlier question; Rotating brushes, are they being used for good dramatic effect beyond just fans?

Not yet but I believe it will be in the future...

How much are you willing to sacrifice performance (r_speeds etc) for something that absolutely looks cool?

Probably more than most review guys only because i don't check r_speeds and such I just play the map... I guess it's because I've have a lower end machine most of the time and I'm a little use to it...

Secrets: what is the best way to implement them into the flow of a level?

Off the beaten path a bit but at least subdually marked or a chance the battle will open them... Secrets that are unmarked or way out of the way are useless...

Which gun is your pride and joy for Strogg blasting?

Super Shotgun! What else...

Are levels that restrict weapon selection and ammo more exciting/challenging or do you like full fire power every time?

Definitely, the better the balance the more fun the map will be... When I finish a map and wander back for screen shots there shouldn't be ammo and health everywhere, if there is the map was way to easy... I need it to be a bit challenging for it to be fun...

Obviously, just leaving health and ammo laying around is pretty cliché. What are some of the better tricks to integrating items into a level's theme and flow?

I don't think leaving ammo laying around is all that cliche... Hell if you were a Strogg defending your planet and were ready for battle and out on a post to defend wouldn't you have a bit of extra ammo... As long as it's the ammo that the monster in the area uses I think it's quite realistic...

As far as health goes maybe it is... Maybe in secrets or near the medic would be a good place for it...

What is your take on the special powerups, quad for example? Do they fit with a strong single player environment?

Very rarely will I even use any special power ups... Unless they are absolutely necessary to get through and then I think they are cool...

What is your biggest tip for for someone just thinking about starting editing?

If you have an imagination and want to start editing I say go for it... It's so much easier than Quake with all the editing sites and examples out there...

Thanks. We all appreciate it.